FIFA deals Rosberg World Cup blow

NEWS STORY17/07/2014

As if to prove asinine decision making is not limited to F1, FIFA has scuppered Nico Rosberg's plans for a World Cup tribute helmet.

The German, who yesterday unveiled plans to wear a special helmet for this weekend's Grand Prix at Hockenheim which marked his country's 1-0 victory over Argentina in the final, has been told that he cannot carry an image of the trophy on his helmet.

In a brief statement, Football's equivalent of the FIA said: "Any unauthorised use of the official marks not only undermines the integrity of the FIFA world cup and its marketing programme, but also puts the interests of the worldwide football community at stake."

Ignoring, the ongoing furore over the decision to give the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, not to mention an alleged £60m ticket touting scam during the Brazilian tournament, FIFA has seen more than its fair share of scandals over the years, therefore the decision to prevent Rosberg paying tribute to his country by playing the integrity card might raise a few eyebrows.

Unveiling the helmet on Twitter yesterday, Rosberg wrote: "This will be my Hockenheim World Cup special edition helmet with the FIFA trophy. How do you like it???"

Clearly FIFA didn't.

In a follow-up tweet he added: "What a week!! I got married, Germany won and I signed a new contract with Mercedes! Just need to win my home GP now ;)"

Accepting the move, Rosberg subsequently revealed his helmet (sans offending trophy), admitting: "Shame, I would have liked the trophy on my helmet as a tribute to the guys. But I respect the legal situation".

"So it was OK for all those fans to have replica trophies (that I now realise must have been sold by FIFA) but not for an image of such on the helmet of a German driver, who is currently leading the Driver's World Championship & appears to be a decent enough guy & presumably isn't making money from the helmet, at the German GP in the same week that the German national football team became World Champions. FIFA ... even more F'd than FIA ..."